Dr. Anna Stembridge on Great Coaching: Belonging, Reflection, and Clarity as Kindness
There is no algorithm for leadership. So we ask the world's great coaches how they do it.
From Wales, netball coach and researcher Dr. Anna Stembridge discusses what sets great coaches apart: connecting with players and staff, harnessing talent to a clear strategy, knowing strengths and blind spots, and creating high support/high challenge environments. She recounts Lyn Gunston urging her toward coaching early, her transition through Bath and the Welsh Netball Academy, and leading England to win the 2011 World Netball Series by building fearlessness, learning from losses, and demystifying Australia and New Zealand. Stembridge outlines reflective routines (journaling, mentors, critical friends), building belonging by celebrating difference with tough love, sustaining culture as a season-long “golden thread,” and PhD insights on cumulative stress and better organizational support for coaches. She emphasizes checking assumptions, “clarity is kindness,” care, trust, and aspiring to be remembered for investing in people while pursuing bold goals.
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